Global Courant 2023-05-31 17:00:39
A union is asking 15,000 hotel workers in Los Angeles and Orange County to authorize a strike during the height of the tourist season.
Unite Here Local 11 said contracts expire June 30 at 62 hotels in Southern California, including luxury properties such as the Westin Bonaventure in downtown Los Angeles, the Fairmont Miramar in Santa Monica and the Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills.
Union officials say they are asking for the strike to be approved on June 8 to jump-start sluggish negotiations and convince hotel operators to seriously consider wage increases for their employees.
As Los Angeles gears up for a busy summer travel season – plus future tourism events, including the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics – and hotel company profits soar, ensuring workers are fairly compensated and can afford housing said Kurt Petersen, co-chairman of Unite Here Local 11.
Petersen said the union has plans to ramp up pressure on a number of other tourism companies — other hotels, as well as food operators at airports, stadiums and resorts whose contracts also expire on June 30. He said a total of more than 20,000 Southern California tourism employees with about 100 contracts will be involved in actions this summer.
The union represents non-management hotel employees, including receptionists, housekeepers and hotel restaurant employees. Marriott International and Hilton Hotels & Resorts are among the major employers in talks with Unite Here Local 11.
Faced with the union’s proposals at the first negotiating session on April 20 — including an immediate $5 an hour blanket raise — hotels have largely “shut down,” Petersen said. The union has made other proposals related to health care, pensions and a policy against using E-Verify, a federal system used to check your eligibility for work, to protect migrant workers, he said.
“They have not made any counterproposals. They didn’t put a dime on the table,” Petersen said.
Hotel companies did not attend a second scheduled negotiation session. Lawyers representing a newly formed coalition of about a dozen hotels showed up Friday for a third hearing, Petersen said.
Michael D’Angelo, a vice president of labor relations at Hyatt, said the company is disappointed that the union is considering a strike.
“Hyatt has just begun negotiations along with other hotels in Los Angeles and Orange County and is committed to negotiating in good faith,” D’Angelo said in a statement.
He said Hyatt and Unite Here successfully negotiated agreements in other markets this year, including a contract with Unite Here Local 11 in Long Beach.
“We remain optimistic that a mutually beneficial agreement can be reached without a strike,” D’Angelo said.
Brenda Mendoza, a uniform clerk at JW Marriott in the LA Live entertainment district, said her job doesn’t pay enough to live in Koreatown, the neighborhood where she grew up.
Mendoza, 42, was evicted from her two-bedroom apartment in Downey last year when the rent was raised to $3,000, she said. Now she lives in Apple Valley, two hours there and back.
“Living in LA is no longer an option” on her salary, Mendoza said. “Nobody wants to go on strike. But if that’s what it takes, then that’s what we’re going to do.”
The move comes amid wider concerns that city leaders have dropped the ball regarding the establishment of worker protections for the upcoming World Cup and Olympics. In April, the Garment Worker Center, a labor advocacy group, strongly criticized and lobbied for last-minute changes to DTLA 2040, a long-term rezoning plan, to protect low-wage workers and small apparel businesses in the Fashion District.
In addition to pushing for higher wages in collective bargaining agreements, Unite Here Local 11 has also pushed for fair pay initiatives in several California cities, including Los Angeles, Irvine, Santa Monica, and Long Beach.
Most recently, the union filed an initiative in Culver City trying to guarantee a minimum wage of $25 an hour and protect room attendants from assault.
A similar voting initiative was filed in March in Rancho Palos Verdes for Terranea Resort employees. In 2019, voters defeated a ballot that would have increased resort workers’ salaries and equipped workers with panic buttons to help prevent sexual assault.
